Diablo engines are very reliable.
They can take a tremendous pounding and are for most of us driven far below
their capabilities in terms of power demands. Nevertheless from time to

Figure
1. Front check engine lights
in a Diablo.

time
things can go wrong or need a minor adjustment. The computer signals if
something is wrong with the engine by turning on the R or L engine warning
light.

These two lights correspond to
the right and left bank of cylinders of the V12 engine. Rather than acting
as a simple warning light however, there is a diagnostic test to then find out
what the problem is.

The engine computer (the "LIE control unit
as Lamborghini calls it), is able to acknowledge and memorize engine failures
relating to the many sensors surrounding the engine. If it picks up a problem it
simply turns on the L or R check engine light. If the failure was only temporary, the LIE system switches off the check engine light after 2
minutes. The error code is however stored by the LIE computer. To
retrieve the error code. With the engine off, switch the ignition on off
3 times to the first position (i.e.. not far enough to start the engine,
but enough to light up the front instrument panel). The fourth time the
key is switched to the on position the check engine light L or R will
flash with a code corresponding to the problem detected by the cars
engine computer. The table below explains what these codes mean:-

Number Of Flashes

Error Indication

1

Lambda sensor inactive

2

Lambda sensor detected weak fuel
mixture

3

Lambda sensor detected rich fuel
mixture

4

Timing sensor

5

Engine speed and TDC sensor

6

Engine speed and timing sensor
signal wrong sequence

7

Air pressure sensor

8

Battery voltage

9

Coolant temperature sensor

10

Not used

11

Intake air temperature sensor

12

Throttle potentiometer

13

CAN communication link failure

14

Not used

15

Not used

16

Not used

17

Catalyst system efficiency

18

Lambda sensor efficiency

19

Misfire detected

20

Misfire
detected

21

Carbon
filter washing solenoid valve

22

OBDII
system failure

23

OBDII
system failure

Catalyst system efficiency. For
recent model Lamborghinis, the catalyst should last a least 100,000 miles. If it starts to fail
the #17 error code will come on.

OBDII is a diagnostic system setup to insure the
car meets EPA pollution requirements. If there are pollution problems the OBDII
system should detect it and let the driver know using one of the above
codes.